This invention relates to an actuator button for use on an aerosol spray container to deliver an atomized spray of liquid such as an air freshener and to the dies by which such an actuator button is made.
Aerosol actuator buttons are well known in the art and are used to atomize a pressurized liquid into a spray which can be delivered into a room or to coat an object with the atomized spray. It is desirable to tilt the spray away from the user, but some of the molding techniques required to accomplish such directional control of the spray can be complex. For example, the GLADE.RTM. air freshener sold by S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. of Racine, Wis. has an overcap wherein the user depresses a top button and the air freshener spray emerges from an orifice which is set at an angle with respect to the central long axis of the can so that the spray is directed upward, but away from the user. The manufacture of such an overcap orifice requires a pin which enters from the side during the molding process and then must be withdrawn before the mold can open. This requires tight tolerances on the mold die.
Other examples of how side directed orifices are manufactured for actuator buttons are described in the Abplanalp et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,008,654; 3,083,917; and 3,083,918. A slightly asymmetrical orifice is created by means of a projection 18 in the '654 patent which is pulled out when the mold pin 17 is retracted after molding the button.
A simpler actuator button used to tilt the spray from an aerosol container is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,782 to Van der Heijden wherein the orifice is co-axial with the valve stem of the aerosol container on which it is placed, but an additional and separate actuator means for tilting the actuator button itself and actuating the release of the spray is required.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,688 to Crapser teaches a hose end dispenser where the liquid to be sprayed is released from an orifice 43 which is then carried along by a stream of water onto a mixing platform 40 which is angled so that the spray is tilted in the direction desired.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,713 to Crapser et al. shows a valve actuator which sprays straight up, i.e. along the central long axis of the aerosol container, using a hinged button on the side of the overcap.
French Pat. No. 669,134 to Paquelin describes an aerosol atomizer where the orifice is located at the bottom of a conical depression in the side of the sprayer device and is angled directly to the side and slightly up from a line drawn perpendicular to the liquid intake 9.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,887,273 to Anderson et al. shows a spray dispensing assembly having two separate orifices located at the bottom of conical openings 64 and 66 wherein the conical openings are described as "fluid control passages". Conical passage 64 appears to be wider than conical passage 66.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,635,406 to Scheindel shows a one-piece spray head and core pin construction for use on aerosol containers wherein the orifice is located at the bottom of an outer diverging depression. The outer diverging portion of the orifice is said to control, to some extent, the angle of the cone-shaped pattern in which the spray is emitted.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,642 to Crowell shows a spray head for an aerosol dispenser in FIGS. 30 through 34 wherein the spray orifice is located at the bottom of an indentation and is off-center with respect to the central long axis of the aerosol can and the valve stem on which it is mounted.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,887,115 to Petterson describes a container-delivery unit for underarm spray products wherein the orifice is mounted to the side of an aerosol spray button device emitting a fan-shaped spray.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,269,614 to Abplanalp shows a dispensing cap for an aerosol container wherein the orifice is set at an angle with respect to the central long axis of the container and the orifice is situated slightly off-center relative to the depression in the cap into which the orifice opens.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,756,472 to Vos and 4,125,226 to Nieuwkamp both show atomization nozzles wherein the orifice portion which is open to the atmosphere is surrounded by a curved or conical surface.
There still appears to be a need for an aerosol actuator button which is capable of diverting its spray away from the user without having to utilize complex and highly toleranced dies.